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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoSeth Perlman | Associated PressCorn and soybean farmer Michael Mahoney plants seed corn in May in Ashland, Ill. Many farmers planted less corn this year.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The nation’s farmers planted the largest soybean crop on record this year,
devoting millions of acres that had been used for corn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said
yesterday.

Farmers planted 84.8 million acres of soybeans, which was 11 percent more than last year’s 76.5
million acres.

Among the states that planted record amounts of the crop were Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota,
Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Corn was planted on 91.6 million acres, nearly 4 percent less than last year’s 95.4 million
acres.

Farmers decided that soybeans would be more profitable this year, said Joe Cornely, spokesman
for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

Cornely added that Ohio farmers tend to follow national trends. “The guy in Circleville is doing
the same math as the guy in Des Moines,” he said.

About a third of the U.S. soybean crop is exported to China, where there’s an increasing demand
for soybeans to feed hogs, poultry and dairy cows.

A drop in corn prices and a rise in soybean prices affected the change in planting.

For much of the last decade, farmers in the primary corn- and soybean-growing states of the
Midwest had greater profit potential with corn, the strong market driven largely by increasing
demand from the ethanol industry. Corn prices surpassed $8 a bushel in August 2012, when a drought
that gripped much of the nation reduced the supply of corn amid high demand.

Seventy-six percent of the corn crop is in good to excellent condition, up from 63 percent at
this time last year.

Increased expectations of bumper crops sent prices for corn and soybeans plunging yesterday.

Soybeans slumped 71 cents, or 6 percent, to $11.57 a bushel, the lowest price since August,
according to FactSet data. Corn dropped 22 cents, or 5 percent, to $4.25 a bushel, the lowest since
January.

The USDA said corn stockpiles rose to 3.8 billion bushels from 2.7 billion last year.